Mumbai: Man turns sleuth to track down stolen car, cops turn a blind eye

Losing his prized SUV hit this 30yearold citizen hard but it was police apathy that really drove him to take matters in his own hands and launch a fullfledged investigation on his ownRakesh Selvaraj visited all the entry and exit points to Mumbai to check if he could spot his car anywhere He eventually spotted the car and two suspects at Virar above and three other nakasWatch video Not only has he been on leave from work for over two weeks he has used this time to visit toll nakas across the city scouring the CCTV footage there in search of his stolen car Whatrsquos more he spotted his car and two suspects in the footage from Virar naka and delivered this evidence to the cops to no resultMumbai Car stolen right under noses of 50 cops and 2 police stationsRakesh Selvaraj claims the police showed little interest in the investigation of his stolen SUVOn the morning of June 9 Rakesh Selvaraj discovered that his car Scorpio MH14BQ7575 had been stolen from outside the BSES building in Gorai 3 Borivli West where he lives He immediately informed the MHB police and registered an FIR with themSelvaraj spotted his car and two suspects in the footage from Virar naka and has delivered this evidence to the policeSelvaraj alleges that the cops were not interested in solving the case and seemed unenthusiastic about registering his complaint as well After a couple of days without any news from the police he took two weeksrsquo leave from the courier company where he worksStrong leadsldquoI searched the toll nakas at the entry and exit points to the city such as Thane Mulund and Dahisar and went through the CCTV footage to track down my car I saw that my car had passed through Dahisar the footage was not very clearLater I saw the car at the Virar toll naka and could also clearly see two men sitting in itrdquo said Selvaraj who also identified his car at the Charoti and Bhagvada toll nakasOn June 23 armed with the footage Selvaraj went to the policersquos Motor Theft department near the Yellow Gate police station where the officers found that one of the accused looked strikingly similar to a historysheeter called Salman Khan alias Irfan Pathan Khan who was arrested in 2010 for another car theftVideo Police helicopter pursues car thieves in thrilling chaseWith the help of the police control room he also put out word about the theft and passed on information about his car details on the police wireless He gave a copy of the FIR to the local police at each of the toll nakas he had spotted his car passing through but all this should have been done by the MHB police he saidThe very next day June 24 he even collected the CCTV footage and delivered it to MHB police station but one of the cops allegedly told him that the video was not clear enough and that he should first have it brightened and then bring it back to the police station Selvaraj gave the police the video almost a week ago but no action has been taken yetCop speakDespite several attempts to contact the MHB police no one was available for comment However Additional Commissioner North Fateh Singh Patil said ldquoI donrsquot have any knowledge about this incident I will ask the concerned officer to search for the car We also will check the CCTV footage from the toll naka and will look into itrdquo